Inspiration, Repeat
by Five Dollar Mixtape
Summary: A series of oneshots inspired by songs. The only rule is that I have to listen to the song on repeat while I'm writing. It says Warriors and Supernatural, but there will probably be some Welcome to Night Vale in here, too. I can only put in two fandoms.
1. Jackrabbit (Warriors)

**Song- Jackrabbit, San Fermin**

Rabbitkit had never made a friend. She had never been able to give a cheerful hello to another kit without them giving a shaky one back, providing her with an excuse about having to go back to their mother for a nap or a wash before rushing away. She had never been able to bump into a warrior or apprentice without being met with a snarl from even the most reserved and friendly cats- who treated the other kits just fine.

The black as night kit curled up in her cold, secluded corner of the Nursery. She had never met her real mother, she didn't even know her parents' names. She was told that her mother died in her birth, and had never named the father. As soon as she could survive off of prey, she was kicked out of the Queens' nests.

 _Why do they hate me?_ was a constant thought in Rabbitkit's mind. Currently, it was ringing through her head, over and over again as she watched the other kits play from the shadows of camp- the one place where she wasn't judged, which she had learned the hard way, because even stepping out of them made eyes full of hatred and fear go to her.

"Ridgekit, that hurt," a voice complained. It came from a pretty, pure white she-kit with glittering blue eyes.

"Sorry, Snowkit," Ridgekit, the brown tom with cream markings scattered throughout his fur meowed without really sounding sincere about the apology. The two were a moon older than Rabbitkit, but she acted more like a warrior then the other two. Maybe it had something to do with how she was treated.

Rabbitkit wondered what would happen if someday, by some miracle given to her by StarClan, she was invited to play with the other two kits.

" _Rabbitkit!" Snowkit would call, her high-pitched voice making her ears twitch. "We need an extra kit for this game."_

" _Yeah," Ridgekit would add. "It's no fun with just two playing."_

" _You're asking me?" Rabbitkit would meow, surprise filling every syllable of her question._

" _There's no other kits around," Snowkit might tease. She might also tease, "What, are you going to say no?" Rabbitkit found she liked the latter better, so she choose that._

" _No, no I'm not," she would meow, padding slowly towards the two._

She was snapped out of her fantasy by a sharp screech- it looked like Ridgekit accidentally ripped out a chunk of his littermate's fur. In less than a heartbeat, their mother, a beautiful cream and brown tabby she-cat with blazing green eyes was in the clearing, her eyes searching all over camp.

"Where's Rabbitkit?!" she yowled. Rabbitkit stiffened, not even daring to breathe as she hid. A russet-furred apprentice sniffed the air, his eyes following Rabbitkit towards her spot. He seemed to hesitate for a heartbeat, then two, before he padded over to her hiding spot and picked her up by her scruff. The Queen was on the two in an instant, not even waiting for the black kit to be set down. "What did you do to Snowkit?" she snarled.

"Nothing!" Rabbitkit squeaked out in her soft voice, her fur purred outwards in fear.

"Don't give me that!" the she-cat growled.

"She didn't," a voice chimed. The cats turned to look at a large and intimidating tom.

His pelt was the color of clouds, and looked just as fluffy. His paws, ears, and chest were the color of the night sky, and looked just as dark. His eyes were the color of the sky, but held none of the warmth. Skystar was certainly not a cat to be taken lightly.

"Whitethorn, if you're going to accuse a cat, make sure you're accusing the right one," his eyes narrowed. "Prejudice and history are not guilt."

Whitethorn stiffened, scrambling for words for a few moments, before dipping her head. "Y-yes, Skystar."

"Your culprit is Ridgekit," Skystar meowed, "but the crime is no more than momentary pain. Redpaw, put down Rabbitkit." The apprentice listened to his orders quickly, setting Rabbitkit gently on the ground. "I believe you have training to get to," Skystar added.

"Yes, o-of course," Redpaw meowed, turning on his heel and padding towards the camp entrance. After one last, long-lasting glare at Rabbitkit, Whitethorn padded away towards Ridgekit. After a moment longer, Skystar left too, once again leaving Rabbitkit alone.

A moon passed in much the same way- Rabbitkit staying alone. Ridgekit and Snowkit were now Ridgepaw and Snowpaw, ruining all illusions she had of having kit friends. However, a Queen named Blossompetal, a fawn colored she-cat with a darker muzzle, chest, and belly, moved into the Nursery not long after the incident with Skystar, and she had given birth to her kits last night. Blossompetal was known for her episodes of confusion after she had gained a bad blow to her head, and that raised the question of whether or not she would be a good mother, but a few former Queens spoke about how maternal instincts reign over memory. And since her episodes weren't violent, the Medicine Cat saw no issue with her being a Queen.

 _Rabbitkit expected the Queen to be sleeping when she entered the Nursery to finally get some sleep, but there she was, awake and staring at her kits with love in her eyes. She looked drowsy, like she was about to fall asleep, yet she was still awake. Rabbitkit stiffened when Blossompetal turned her gaze to her. Confusion filled her eyes for a second, before it was wiped away._

" _You don't need to be jumpy," Blossompetal meowed. "Would you like to meet them?" Rabbitkit's ears flicked upwards, her eyes widened, her whole stance reeked of surprise, and it only served to make the Queen purr harder. "Come on," she meowed, gesturing minimally with her tail in front of her. Slowly, Rabbitkit padded in front of the nest, looking down at three bundles of fur. One was a fawn colored tom, his pelt matching most of his mother's. Another was a darker brown she-kit, with a black tail and small black paws. The last was a black and brown patched tom._

" _These are Dustkit," she gestured to the fawn tom with a nod of her head, "Flintkit," the she-kit, "and Gingerkit," to the last kit._

 _Rabbitkit had folded her ear back in confusion. "But he's not ginger," she meowed before she could stop herself._

 _Blossompetal let out another purr. "Look at you, questioning me," she meowed. "Just like when we were apprentices, right, Meadow…" she trailed off, a confused look on her own face. "I'm sorry, what was your name again? I know I ask this a lot."_

"What's her name?" A squeaky voice asks, breaking her away from her train of thought. She turned her head to look at Flintkit, who had opened a pair of bright blue eyes. "I wanna know who she is!" Blossompetal turned her head to look at Rabbitkit, and not seeming to care that she was well within earshot, answered.

"Her name is Rabbitkit," she meowed, "and I'd like you and your littermates to stay away from her."

"Why?" Flintkit asked.

Blossompetal gave Rabbitkit a long look before responding. "Cats worry about what she might become."

Rabbitkit had gotten used to being alone when she was with Ridgepaw and Snowpaw. She had gotten used to being completely alone when they left. She could get used to being alone around Dustkit, Flintkit, and Gingerkit.

A moon passed differently from her other five- when she was with Ridgepaw and Snowpaw, they would either ignore her or insult her. The three younger kits seemed determined to get to know her, despite the fact that they would get in trouble every time it happened. At first, the cats blamed Rabbitkit, but then it started happening so often that they knew it must have been the younger three knowing they were in a time crunch of a moon.

"Rabbitkit!" the named kit turned her head to look at Gingerkit, who was padding happily towards her with his tail in the air. "Do you wanna play with us?" he asked.

Rabbitkit had taken them up on their offer once before, after a long moment of hesitation. Their punishment was to be confined to the Nursery for multiple days.

The black she-kit shook her head. "You'll get in trouble," she meowed.

"But we wanna play with you!" Gingerkit complained. "Maybe you can teach us some cool battle moves that apprentices teached you?"

"It's taught," Rabbitkit corrected, "and they haven't shown me anything." The closest interaction she had with an apprentice was when Redpaw would look over at her, like he wanted to go talk to her, before he got called away.

"Gingerkit!" a voice called. The two looked at Blossompetal, who didn't seem surprised to see the two together. "Come here," she meowed.

"Coming!" He looked over his shoulder at the older kit. "See you later, Rabbitkit!"

All of their attempts were fruitless, until on the day of her apprentice ceremony when they offered to help wash her fur. She paused, her paw still hanging in front of her mouth, and waited a few moments to ask "What?"

"We want to help wash your fur!" Dustkit added.

Rabbitkit tilted her head. "Why?"

"Cause you shouldn't have to do it alone!" Flintkit added, ending it with a drawn out 'please' that the other two kits joined in on. Occasionally, one would stop to take breaths before continuing.

"Will you stop that if I say yes?" Rabbitkit asked, her ear twitching.

"Yes!" Flintkit paused in her 'please' to meow, before continuing.

"Then yes." The three broke out in a cheer before leaping onto Rabbitkit, furiously licking at the fur they could reach. It didn't take them long to finish.

The fur itself was clean, but it stuck out in all directions in a few places. Rabbitkit assumed that she couldn't look any better for a kit washing her own fur. She nodded a thanks to the kits, who scampered off happily, smoothing down all the fur she could before she padded towards a building crowd. She sat in front of a fallen tree, looked up at the branches and waited.

Soon enough, Skystar appeared on a thick branch, easily balancing on it. The deputy, a russet she-cat named Ravenlake, appeared a few branches under him.

Skystar didn't bother calling the Clan together- Rabbitkit guessed that it was because a lot of cats just didn't want to come to her ceremony. Most of the cats here probably just wanted to see who her mentor would be.

"Rabbitkit," Skystar began, "from this moment on and until you earn your warrior name, you shall be known as Rabbitpaw. Ravenlake," Already, Rabbitpaw's eyes widened as the name was called. "I believe that you are the best suited and the best hope for training Rabbitpaw. I entrust her training to you."

The deputy dipped her head to her leader, leaping off of her branch and landing gracefully on the ground. She padded over to Rabbitpaw, and Rabbitpaw tentatively touched her nose with her own.

The silence around the clearing, to Rabbitpaw at least, was deafening. Until it was broken by three, squeaky voices that were quickly silenced by another cat.

" _Rabbitpaw! Rabbitpaw!"_

"Follow me," Ravenlake meowed, padding towards the camp entrance. "I'll be showing you the territory."

Rabbitpaw hadn't felt this happy in a long time.

Training with Ravenlake was hard- she held no reservations on what would normally be considered too much for a beginner apprentice. She would wake just before the sun began to rose, and come back to camp well after the moon had started to rise. She would eat a piece of prey, then stumble into her nest and fall asleep as soon as her fur touched moss. Quickly, though, her body became used to the sleeping schedule, and she wasn't as tired. Her body was constantly sore, but while in the beginning she could barely walk across the territory without getting tired, now she could easily run around the territory without breaking a sweat. While before she could barely get a single blow in on Ravenlake, now she could land quite a few- some of them were even effective in her getting close to winning before the deputy beat her. Her hunting had improved from when she was once missing every other piece of prey, she rarely missed something now.

The fact that she had only been in training for three moons should have been a testament to Ravenlake's harsh and effective training.

"Rabbitpaw," Ravenlake meowed, her tail curled neatly over her paws. The black she-cat lifted her head, pausing practicing the battle move that the deputy- she wasn't allowed to refer to her as her mentor- had shown her. "I need to tell you something. Sit." Rabbitpaw didn't hesitate to listen to the command. She had learned early on that a harder-than-normal cuff around the ear wasn't out of the question from the she-cat. She sat down, looking as put together as the cat in front of her. "It's about your parents," Ravenlake began.

Rabbitpaw's eyes widened. "Why are you telling me now?" she asked.

Ravenlake narrowed her eyes. "Skystar decided that it was time you knew," she answered. "Your parents are Meadowrain and Beaverwater." The memory of Blossompetal calling her Meadow-something before trailing off, claiming she forgot the rest of the name echoed in her mind.

"I know you get mad if I interrupt," Rabbitpaw meowed quickly, "but was Meadowrain close with Blossompetal?"

Ravenlake's eyes narrowed even more, her ears lowering. "How did you know that?" she asked.

"She called me Meadow before when she was confused, but she didn't remember the rest of the name." Slowly, the deputy's ears rose and her eyes opened.

"Yes, they were close," Ravenlake meowed. "And Blossompetal forgetting your mother's name was a common occurrence. May I continue?" she asked the question with sarcasm in her tone, and Rabbitpaw nodded. "Your mother and father were the greatest bane ValleyClan have ever encountered since the time of legends," she explained, making Rabbitpaw's green eyes widen in surprise. "Beaverwater escaped to other groups of cats, convincing them to attack us for a favor in return. Almost all of them accepted, but at the time we didn't know that it was him. Meadowrain made sure that the herbs from the territory were destroyed and wouldn't grow back- the cats that didn't die from the battles were at a high risk of infection, and many died from it. It wasn't until we caught Meadowrain and Beaverwater plotting with a leader of a group of rogues to take us over, to make us their servants, that we realized it was them and held them prisoner.

"The rogues attacked us anyway, in an effort to get at Beaverwater for not giving them what was promised. He was killed in the battle, but Meadowrain was already pregnant." Ravenlake gave Rabbitpaw a piercing glare. "And you know what happened to her."

"I killed her," she meowed softly.

"You and your littermate," she corrected. Rabbitpaw's ears perked- she didn't know she had a littermate. "He was a stillborn, but he was named Moorkit. After you were born, Meadowrain died."

Rabbitkit paused, taking in all the information, but she didn't have time to take in everything before Ravenlake spoke again.

"You're going to be like them," she growled harshly. "I know it. They're grown up, dead, and gone, and you're young and growing, but you _will_ be just like them. Maybe it wouldn't have happened if the Clan had stepped up and realized that _you_ had freed us from battle after battle and draining resources, but now that they've avoided you for so long there's no chance at redemption for you."

Rabbitpaw swallowed, listening to the deputy speak. Tears wanted to spring to her eyes, but she held them down. "Do you have a suggestion?" she asked weakly, looking at her paws.

"Run for the hills and don't look back." The she-cat stood, flicking her tail, then started to pad out of the clearing. "I want that move perfected by tomorrow. If you're not gone by then, at least."

Days droned on. Rabbitpaw kept learning. She thought about leaving. She thought about staying.

If she left, there would be no more glares, no more snarls. No more harsh training from Ravenlake- a cat who she knew hated her, a mentor that she wasn't allowed to call a mentor. No more having to stay away from Dustkit, Flintkit, and Gingerkit for their own sakes, because she wouldn't be around for them to get in trouble anymore. No more hatred for history that wasn't hers. The argument for leaving looked better everyday- her mind chanted for her to _run for the hills, run for the hills, run_.

What would she get if she stayed, anyway? The kits only spoke to her because they wanted to be rebellious. Cats said that the Clans were about companionship- the more of you there are, the more prey there would be and if you had to fight every cat would be on your side, no matter if they agreed with you, or even liked you. Rabbitpaw wasn't sure that any cat from ValleyClan would fight with her. The training from Ravenlake was useful, but she couldn't just leave the things that she already had behind. Once, she had sparred against Snowpaw, and she had won. She couldn't believe the result, and neither could the other apprentices, but the warriors had just nodded, meowing about how they would expect nothing less from an apprentice of the deputy. She had even beaten Redpaw once, and he was almost a warrior!

Everytime she tried to leave, though, something stopped her. Once, it was the kits asking her if she could play, and she let out a sigh, telling them she had to go to training. She decided to stay just a bit longer, for the kits.

The next time, Ravenlake snapped at her that she was late for training. Her mind reminded her that maybe she could prove herself to Ravenlake. That would prove herself to the Clan, right? Those thoughts always died down quickly, but she decided to stay a bit longer.

After that was the beginning of Leaf Fall, the cold of it making her shiver constantly. Her pelt hadn't grown out yet like the other cat's had. Redpaw had pressed himself against her, ending her shivering. She had thought that if Redpaw was willing to be so close to her, without growling or snarling, then maybe she had hope with the rest of the Clan, and decided to stay a bit longer.

Finally, though, another time arose where she decided to leave. She was tired of everything- the snarls, the growls, the false promise of companionship- she just wanted to leave. She waited until it was nighttime, and slid quietly out of her den. Her ears perked as she heard quiet voices of familiar four moon old kits. _Not again, not again,_ she thought, but padded towards them anyway, wondering what they were up to. The three were hiding in a corner of camp, whispering urgently to each other.

"What are you doing?" Rabbitpaw asked quietly. The three jumped.

"Uh… hi, Rabbitpaw!" Gingerkit whisper-yelled to her. "Just… talking!"

"Yeah! Just talking!" Flintkit added.

"You're trying to sneak out of camp, aren't you?" Rabbitpaw asked. The three looked surprised for a moment, before nodded.

"You're gonna send us back to Blossompetal," Dustkit complained. Rabbitpaw thought for a heartbeat.

"You know what? Follow me, but stay silent." The three looked excited, and nodded happily. Rabbitpaw turned on her heel, padding towards the dirtplace and sliding through the wall there. She could hear the kits following her let out sounds of disgust before they followed her. They padded a bit away from camp before Rabbitpaw spoke. "You see that stone over there?" she meowed, gesturing to the large rock. The three kits nodded. "When you see that, you'll know how to get back to camp. Moss grows on one side of it- head in the direction that doesn't have moss."

"You're talking like you're not coming back with us," Flintkit laughed. Rabbitpaw didn't so much as flick her ear.

"You're not coming back with us," Dustkit meowed, his eyes widening.

"No," Rabbitpaw meowed.

"You're leaving the Clan?!" Gingerkit squeaked loudly. The black she-cat hesitated for a heartbeat before nodding. "Why!?"

"You've seen how the Clan treats me," Rabbitpaw meowed. "I'm tired of it." Before they could speak again, she cut in with something that she knew they wouldn't refuse. "You kept asking me to play, and the only reason I didn't was because you would have gotten in trouble. Now, I think the least I can do is show you around the territory."

The kits brightened. "Let's do it! Let's do it!" Flintkit cheered. Rabbitpaw set off. She showed them the training clearing, where they rolled around in the sand. When they were done, they shook it out of their pelts, creating a mini-sandstorm. Next, she showed them the Mother Tree. After that, she showed them a steep slope that all three of them almost fell down. When they asked why it was there and that it was a traitor to all cats trying to stand, she answered that that was the point- it was only really used during battle, and the only way to get down it was to run down before you fell. The only way to get up was to leap.

Finally, Rabbitpaw stopped. "The sun's going to rise soon," she meowed. "Follow your scent back to camp."

A look of sadness fell on the three's faces. "Do we have to?" Gingerkit asked.

"If you don't want to get caught," Rabbitpaw told them. Flintkit rushed up to her and licked her chest. The other two quickly followed after.

"Bye, Rabbitpaw!" Flintkit meowed, forcing cheeriness.

"May StarClan light your path!" Dustkit added, sounding cheeky as he did so (Rabbitpaw bet that he was just glad he remembered the phrase).

"I'm not going to forget you, you know," Rabbitpaw meowed. She dipped her head to them in goodbye. "May StarClan light your path," she returned, turning to leave the territory.

The sun was starting to rise when she finally crossed the scent line. The padded across the broad expanse of flatness until she reached the hills, quickly covering them. She found a river, which she laid next to and feel asleep.

She was woken up by a paw shaking her. She opened her green eyes, looking up at a russet she-cat. At first, she thought that it was Ravenlake and stiffened at the thought, but noticed that this cat was much smaller than the deputy and had different color eyes- a copper color.

"What's a molly like you doing sleeping next to the river?" the she-cat asked with a bit of an accent.

"Molly?" Rabbitpaw asked, sitting up and taking a closer look at the cat. She was small and lean- but not dangerously thin. Her whole pelt was russet, reminding her of Redpaw, but she shook the thought from her mind. The fur was clean and well-kempt, and her eyes glittered with a strange happiness.

"Yeah, a molly," she meowed. "Female cat?"

"You mean a she-cat?"

"Sure," she meowed. "But what're you doing sleeping by the river?"

"I was walking since nighttime," Rabbitpaw meowed.

"Why were you doing that?" the she-cat tilted her head.

"I had to get away."

"Away from where? Oh, Gods, you weren't hurt by some cat, were you?"

Rabbitpaw shook her head. "No, don't worry."

"Good, good," she meowed. "Oh, I'm Howler, by the way. What's your name?"

"Rabbitpaw."

"That's a weird name," Howler commented, folding her ear back. "I mean, having to be called that your whole life?"

"Howler is a weird name to me," Rabbitpaw argued. "I've never met a loner before."

"I'm not a loner," Howler meowed. "We just move around a lot, and I'm on my own for now." Her head snapped upwards with a thought. "Hey, you could come with me!"

"What?"

"Yeah, you could come with! You see, there's this tradition where I come from? Once cats reach a certain age we have to leave and travel by ourselves for a while. But we're allowed to bring cats back, and broaden the bloodlines and experiences of the group!" Howler happily explained. "So, what do you say, Rabbitpaw?"

Rabbitpaw narrowed her eyes, not wanting to join another group again so fast. "...Maybe."

"Well, then come with me!" Howler meowed. She led the way away from the river before looking over her shoulder at the black she-cat. "You know, you kind of remind me of a rabbit."

"Because of my name?" Rabbitpaw asked dryly.

"No, no," Howler meowed. "I don't know what it is, you just do."

"Rex rabbit?" she had tried once, before shaking her head. "No, no."

"Beveren," she had tried again. "Nope."

"Silver fox?" she had mumbled to herself. "May… nope, not at all."

"Satin," she tried once, making Rabbitpaw roll her eyes.

"We're almost there, you know," Howler meowed one day.

"Where?"

"Home." Howler looked back at Rabbitpaw. "Do you know if you want to join or not?"

Rabbitpaw thought for a few heartbeats. "If all of them are like you, sure."

"What does that mean?" Howler asked.

"Maybe they'll spend their time with me listing off rabbit breeds."

"Hey!" Rabbitpaw had purred at her in return.

They had reached the group of cats after three long moons. The two were standing on top of a ridge, looking down at the cats. Howler seemed to be waiting for something.

"I've got it!" she meowed happily. "Jackrabbit." She turned her copper eyes towards Rabbitpaw. "That's what I'm calling you now. Jackrabbit."

 **I might make fanfic out of this, but just about Rabbitpaw's life in with Howler and with the other group and maybe interacting with ValleyClan again at some point. Tell me what you think of this!**


	2. The Fugitive Kind (Warriors)

**Song- The Fugitive Kind by The Trigger Code**

Befriending a cat with god-like powers that refused to listen to whatever she said wasn't what Darkpaw had wanted to do with her life, but that was what happened.

She had first met the she-cat on her first day of training. She was still on a high from the excitement of having her name changed from Darkkit to Darkpaw and from the excitement of meeting her mentor (a nice tom named Goldentree). When Goldentree told her to stay in one place and listen to the sounds of their territory, she complied, not wanting to disappoint her mentor. Bird song and wind filled her ears. In her boredom, she noticed that everything looked and felt the slightest bit different- as if the world was lacking the brightness it had had a moment before.

"Aren't you a pretty one," a voice above her mewed, causing her to snap her head up to the source. "Or, at least, you will be."

The speaker was a pure white she-cat whose fur glowed in the dim world. Green eyes were a stark contrast to the fur, but they stood out just as much. Her fur looked feather soft, and even though it was short, it looked like it could keep an entire Clan warm. She was perched on top of a thick branch, her tail and one of her forepaws hanging off of the ledge as she looked down at the apprentice.

"Who're you?" Darkpaw asked, her eyes narrowed. "Goldentree will chase you off the territory, you know! Especially if you're a Deserter that got away!"

"Oh, is that his name?" the she-cat asked. "Strange name. But I don't think Goldentree will be much of a problem."

"What?" The apprentice turned her head to look at her mentor, but he was _gone_. There were no pawprints on the grass where he had been standing, and there was no rustling of the underbrush around her. When she sniffed the air, she couldn't detect even a trace of her mentor's scent.

"Do you have a name as strange as Goldentree?" the white she-cat asked. Turning her attention back to her, she noticed that she had rested her head on the forepaw still on the branch, but she was still looking down at her. A hind leg had joined her forepaw in hanging off of the tree.

The dark pelted cat narrowed her eyes. Was her name strange? "...Darkpaw," she told her. Then, a new thought entered her mind, one that made her black fur stand on end and her blue eyes go round. "What did you do to Goldentree?!" she nearly screeched. This cat _had_ to be Deserter, especially if she hurt her mentor.

"I didn't do anything to the tom," the white she-cat meowed. "Only a few cats can enter the spirit world. You, _Darkpaw_ ," she sounded like she was testing the name, "are one of a lucky few."

"The what world?" Darkpaw asked. Green eyes became a bit more serious as they started downwards.

"What do you believe in?" she asked in return.

"StarClan," she meowed like she was speaking to a newborn kit, because that's the only thing that she _could_ have believed in. "Where else would I go when I die?"

"Here," the she-cat meowed. "The spirit world is a large place, after all. Most cats come here."

Darkpaw's fur fluffed with anger. Was she saying that StarClan wasn't real? "I'm going to join StarClan!" she growled.

"Oh, I don't doubt that your… _StarClan_ is real," the she-cat meowed. "There _are_ powerful and mysterious forces in the world, after all." She started purring. "I should know, I'm one of them."

The apprentice blinked up at the she-cat. "What?"

"You know, I'm going to call you Dark," the white she-cat meowed, ignoring her question. "Darkpaw is a bit of a mouthful."

"Darkpaw is my name."

"And now Dark is your nickname!" Darkpaw narrowed her eyes at the she-cat's purred statement. "You know Dark, I like you," she meowed.

"Okay?"

The she-cat stared at her for a while, lifting her head. "I think you'll do fine." One of the apprentice's ears folded backwards in confusion, but before she had a chance to ask for clarification the she-cat spoke again. "I have powers, you know."

The black she-cat's ears perked. "What kind of powers?"

"All kinds," she meowed.

Darkpaw turned her eyes to the gray, cloudy sky. "Could you make it sunny?"

"I could," the she-cat meowed. "But I won't." After a few moment of silence, she spoke once more. "My name is Rose, by the way." She slid all the way off of the branch, and before Darkpaw had the time to call out to her, the world filled with color again.

It rained for the next quarter moon, and Darkpaw had no one else to blame but Rose.

The next time she met Rose, it was in the middle of camp. She had been having trouble sleeping- both her nest and the apprentice's den felt too confining, so she stood and left in hopes of fresh air. When she placed her first paw out of the den, the colors dimmed. Sitting in the center of camp was the pure white she-cat.

" _Rose?!"_ Darkpaw exclaimed.

"Hi, Dark!" she meowed, curling her tail around her paws.

"What are you doing here?" The apprentice asked, but shook her head. "Don't answer that, you need to leave! If one of the other cats see you-"

"We're _fine_ ," Rose meowed, stressing the second word. "Your cats can't enter the spirit world."

"My cats?" Darkpaw asked, confused with her wording.

"Well, you're one of them, so that makes them your cats as far as I'm concerned," Rose meowed. "Stay for a while! You just missed High Moon."

"What's so special about moonhigh?" Darkpaw asked. The other she-cat shrugged.

"Nothing, really," she mewed. "It gets interesting in a few hours. But you can meet the rest of my cats!"

"Your cats?" Darkpaw asked. "Are you their leader, or just part of the group?"

"Both, neither, does it matter?"

"Yes."

"Come _on_ Dark, it's not important! I'm sure the rest of the cats would love to meet you."

Darkpaw looked over at the camp entrance. She wasn't supposed to leave camp this late- StarClan, she wasn't even supposed to be awake right now. The smallest of things could make her a Deserter. "I'll pass."

"Aww," Rose complained. "I'll tell them you said hi, though."

Darkpaw blinked, tilting her head. "...Sure."

"Well, I gotta go!" Rose meowed. "It was nice seeing you, Dark!" The she-cat rose to her paws and padded slowly out of camp.

Darkpaw didn't see Rose for a moon after that, but it wasn't good timing when she did come back. One of her Clanmates had just died (not that she was particularly close to the cat, but still) and she was supposed to be mourning. The dimming of colors fit with her mood, but the brightness of her fur and her personality wasn't what Darkpaw wanted then.

"What are you doing here?" Darkpaw growled.

"I came to see you!" Rose purred, sitting down so close that their fur brushed. "That cat that died didn't end up in the spirit world. I guess that StarClan _is_ real." She had a sour look on her face as she said it.

"Is that a bad thing?" the apprentice asked, annoyance in her voice.

"For me it is."

Darkpaw's fur fluffed with anger at the she-cat's low concern with StarClan. "Well, what are you doing in the spirit world?" she almost snarled.

"I was born here."

"Then why don't you die and find out where you'll go!" Darkpaw told her.

Teasingly, Rose got onto four paws and crouched. She stalked across the ground, her belly fur brushing against the forest floor. "Oh, Reapers won't come near me," she meowed. "They're too scared of what I can do."

Darkpaw was too angry to ask what Reapers were, and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to know. She rose to her paws and stomped away from Rose, ignoring her call of " _See you soon, Dark!"_ Only once she had crossed half of the territory did she escape the spirit world.

Rose came to her once when she was hunting, sitting patiently where her prey would have been, and being toppled over and pinned as a result. She didn't growl, or snarl, or even try to throw her off. She just smiled up at her with a friendly greeting.

Darkpaw sighed. "Hello, Rose. Why are you interrupting my hunting?"

"A cat that I knew died," Rose meowed, still smiling. "He didn't come to the spirit world, either."

Darkpaw's eyes narrowed, not getting off of the she-cat. "Then shouldn't you be sad? Or crying?"

"I don't cry!" Darkpaw felt an annoying warmth in her eyes, but her vision stayed clear. With another sigh, she got off of the white cat. "You know," Rose meowed, not standing but keeping her green eyes on Darkpaw, "I've been wondering if you'll come to the spirit world or not."

"I won't," Darkpaw meowed. "I'm a Clan cat. I'll go to StarClan, like all other Clan cats."

Rose pawed at the air. "I guess I'll be having a custody battle then." She turned her green eyes back to the sky. "You know, Dark, it turns out it was right when I said you'd grow up to be pretty."

Darkpaw's blue eyes widened. She still wasn't fully grown yet, but when she had met Rose she was much smaller, and the areas around her ears, tail, and paws were still covered in kit fluff. Her blue eyes had grown darker, matching her black as night pelt, and her fur was now at a constant smooth and sleek texture. "Shut up," she grumbled, feeling her ears warm.

"Take a compliment!" Rose purred. "Well, it looks like I should be going now," she added, rolling over and onto her paws gracefully. "Enjoy not crying anymore!"

"What?" Darkpaw asked, but she didn't get a response before the color returned. The warmth that was invading her eyes left.

Goldentree made a good mentor. He wasn't harsh or strict, but he made sure that Darkpaw had learned everything she could as best as she could. Dying in battle wasn't something that the apprentice could imagine happening to him- she always pictured him as the type of cat that would easily make it to become an Elder, yet here she was at his vigil.

Darkpaw hadn't cried. Whatever had happened to her, and she could only blame Rose, had stuck. When color faded in her world again, when she looked up to see Rose sitting across from her, she felt an overwhelming sadness and an urge to cry.

"This is Goldentree?" she asked. Darkpaw nodded, looking down at the body.

"He was my mentor," her voice was rough from both disuse and sadness. "He taught me everything I know about being a warrior."

Rose let out a hum. "He's not in the spirit world, so he must be in StarClan. Do you want me to fight for him to be here?"

Darkpaw shook her head, but a new question entered her mind. "Why do things like this happen, Rose?"

The other she-cat shook her head. "I don't know."

Her new mentor was a calm and rational she-cat named Bluewater. An outbreak of whitecough started the day after Goldentree was buried, and almost half the Clan died from greencough. Darkpaw could only blame Rose.

She hadn't noticed the color leaving the world this time, but when she did she saw Rose and many other cats. When Rose spotted her, she leapt to her paws and rushed towards her. "This is her!" she cheered. "This is Dark!"

"Dark _paw_ ," she corrected.

"Sorry," a brown tom with hazel eyes spoke, "but if Rose is calling you Dark, then you're Dark."

Darkpaw narrowed her eyes, glaring at Rose. The white she-cat ignored it. "These are the cats I wanted you to meet!" she meowed. "There are Moon, Crate, Stone, Timber, Fire, Iron, Candle, Glass, Star, Color, Sweet, Moss, Chip, Ace…" the names went on and on. They started swirling around in Darkpaw's head, and she forgot a name as soon as Rose said a new one. "Well, you'll meet all of them soon enough," Rose finished.

Darkpaw looked out at the crowd of cats. "So, is Rose your leader, or what?"

A large, gray tom shrugged his broad shoulders. "I mean, when we're all together, yeah," he meowed. "I'm Crate, by the way."

"Go on Dark, socialize!" Rose urged, shoving her forwards with her forepaws. "You _are_ Fugitive Kind, after all!"

"I'm what?" Darkpaw asked, turning her head to look at the white she-cat.

"That's what Rose calls us," a she-cat's voice meowed. "She decides who's one of us and who isn't."

"So you're just going to rip me away from StarClan?" Darkpaw growled. A small cough came from in front of Darkpaw, and she turned her head to glare at the source. The tortishell she-cat wasn't affected, though.

"Uh, I'm Color," she began. "But I was Colorpaw."

Darkpaw's eyes widened. "You're a Clan cat?"

"I _was_ a Clan cat," she meowed in her soft voice. "Now I'm part of Fugitive Kind." Nervously, she looked past Darkpaw and towards Rose. "Can I talk to Dark for a bit?"

"Feel free!" Rose's cheery voice meowed. Colorpaw stood, flicking her tail in an indication for Darkpaw to follow her. With a bound, she easily caught up to the other apprentice. The two weaved through the cats, leaving the group behind.

"I was part of a Clan called SnowClan," Colorpaw meowed. "We lived up North, where prey was scarce and hard to catch. The Elders used to say that it snowed nine moons of the year, and hailed the other three. I froze to death after I fell into a river while hunting, but I died catching the squirrel, because every piece of prey was important to us. Cats, usually apprentices, were punished for not catching anything.

"When StarClan came to bring me to join them, Rose intervened."

"Could you go into the spirit world, too?" Darkpaw asked. Colorpaw nodded.

"Rose said that I shouldn't go join some boring group of cats, not when Fugitive Kind had so much fun. The StarClan cat, my mother, Coldberry, told me that I had died for the Clan and that I should go find my place of honor waiting for me in StarClan. Rose attacked Coldberry, telling me… something. I'm not really sure what it was."

"Do you remember it?" Darkpaw turned her head to look at the she-cat. Colorpaw nodded, her amber eyes facing ahead of her.

"She said that when cats ate, we left bones and teeth behind. She said that we did that so the the fugitive kind could follow their kind."

"And that convinced you to join her?" Darkpaw asked.

Colorpaw shook her head. "I joined because she was fighting for me. Eventually, when more StarClan cats came to help bring me to them, Fugitive Kind came and helped her. And because I wanted to get away from a Clan that punished cats for not being able to find prey." Colorpaw looked up at Darkpaw. "What would you leave StarClan behind for?"

Darkpaw thought, long and carefully. "I don't know."

Colorpaw- _Color,_ she corrected herself, only purred. "You'll find out soon."

The next day, a litter of three kits were dragged into camp by the dawn patrol. "Where's Dawnstar?" one warrior yowled, making the kits look even more frightened then they already were.

"We weren't Deserting, I swear!" One she-cat cried, tears streaking down her face.

"We just wanted to see what the territory looked like!"

"Shut up, Deserters!" an apprentice growled.

"Quiet, Hushpaw," the last cat snarled. "An apprentice will never give orders, not even to a kit."

Hushpaw dipped her head in respect to the warrior, but anger still caused her ears to twitch back and forth. Dawnstar, a cream tom with dark eyes, approached the patrol.

"What's this I hear about Deserters?" he asked, a cold look in his eyes.

The first warrior dipped his head to the leader. "We found these kits wandering the territory, close to the border."

With a soft sigh, Dawnstar shook his head. "As much as I hate to do this, Deserters must be punished. Even if they're only kits." He lifted a paw and unsheathed long and sharp claws. The kits were shaking, and they cried out in pain when Dawnstar made a nick in their ears.

The nick was a sign of the Deserters. More than half of the Clan carried a nick, and Darkpaw was thankful she wasn't one of them.

" _What would you leave StarClan behind for?"_ Color had asked her.

With a start, Darkpaw realized that the punishment for Deserters wasn't normal. Kits shouldn't be given scars that would mark them as lower-tier cats for the rest of their lives, but that was the case for most of the Deserters. Leaving the Clan, or just breaking the Warrior Code could classify you as a Deserter. On patrols, cats were told to watch equally for invaders and Deserters.

Darkpaw died from drowning. She had traveled outside of Clan borders in the spirit world, and she hadn't realized that until color had returned. Being outside of Clan borders was enough to mark her as a Deserter, so she ran as fast as she could. She hadn't thought that jumping into the gorge would be a bad idea until she had done it.

When Goldentree came to bring her to StarClan, she kindly refused. Instead, her and her first mentor had spoken about everything from how prey was running to how she had wandered into the spirit world on her first day of training and met a friend until Rose came to bring her to Fugitive Kind.


	3. Fire (Warriors)

**Song- Fire by Barns Courtney**

Pool of Glistening Water was just a kit, nearly a To-Be, when the strange tom arrived.

He was much larger than her- with pure white, silky fur and pale blue eyes, he stood out from the Tribe cats. Pool was his polar opposite- she had black fur that had the spiky trait of Tribe cats, and green eyes that were full of the eagerness she felt to start her training and serve her Tribe. The tom's name was Fire- nothing more than just that.

Fire was calm. Although he got along well with the Tribe Guards, and often went with them for their training sessions, he never snapped or growled or hissed. He spoke in a calm, soothing tone to every cat, deserving of it or not. Pool's littermate, a dark brown tom called Pine the Color of Obsidian, once murmured to her that he should be called Fire that Never Rages, and that was what the two started calling him.

Once Pool started training as a Tribe Guard, she spent more time with Fire. The tom had become an unofficial Tribe member by then, and he had seemed to take a strange liking to Pool once their Healer, Reader of the Tall Grass, deemed her a Tribe Guard. Pool was the only cat that he taught his own fighting moves to, and that made her the only cat in the Tribe who knew how to fight as a Tribe cat and a loner.

It was when she was nearly halfway through her training that Fire started speaking with her about something strange. He told her about the parts of the world that he had seen, and that he was sorry all she would ever see were the grasslands. At first, Pool told him that she liked the view, and when she was a kit the felt like the grasslands could fit every cat in the world. But then Fire told her about huge cliffs where he had watched distant thunderstorms, a Twoleg Place (when asked, he said it was a place where Those Who Walk Strangely live), a mountain full of cats where he had never felt more welcome, a lake that held four different Clans who were the most hostile creatures he had ever met (he joked that they fought every moon over something or other), a cave with paintings on the wall left behind from Those Who Walk Strangely, and a group of cats who lived there that said their ancestors had amazing powers (they even showed him a cavern full of stone animals on leather cords that only gods could make), and suddenly, the grasslands seemed small and insignificant. The Tribe was a small group of cats in the middle of many others, and based on how Fire told his stories, he would never think of them again.

Once, in the middle of a story about finding a two Twoleg Place that the cats who lived there said was once a mighty forest where four great Clans lived, she asked if he would ever tell stories about the Tribe of Towering Grass. He thought for a heartbeat, before he spoke.

"I won't speak of your territory, or your fighting skills, or the way you catch your prey. Instead, I'll speak of your culture, and of the cats I met here."

That was a good enough answer for Pool. She nodded her head, and followed along with the rest of the Tribe Guards.

The next topic he spoke of was how many bad cats there were in the world. He told her about a group of cats he had met that believed in four Gods, and that each of those four Gods demanded a sacrifice of a kit. Those cats believed that they were saving the world- even the kits, until their dying day, thought the same. He told her about rogues who enjoyed starting fights, and had no qualms with killing cats. He told her of visiting a part of Twoleg Place, not far from the part that was once a forest, where he heard stories of a bloodthirsty "Clan" of rogues and former kittypets that wore the claws and teeth of their fallen victims in their collars. Even the lake Clans that he had met knew of them- they said that they were called BloodClan, and a long time ago, the four Clans had killed their leader, killing the Clan along with them.

That made Pool hate the world, but Fire told her that he was going to take care of all the bad cats. She knew that she could trust him, but how could Fire that Never Rages take care of all those evil cats and more?

Pool had developed a habit of looking at her own shadow when she was alone. It mimicked her every movement- every ear flick, every tail lash, every whisker twitch was copied onto another version of herself on the ground. She didn't realize that even though she was surrounded by friends and family, that she was lonely. Occasionally, she would look up at the stars and ask The Tribe of Endless Hunting for guidance, but none ever came.

Fire asked if she wanted to leave with him, once. He asked if she wanted to help him to take care of all of the evil cats in the world. She told him that she would have to think about it.

She told her mother, a she-cat named Moon that Wanes in Time, what Fire had asked her. She told her to let him be- Moon had never really liked Fire, and hated the fact that Pool and the tom spent so much time together.

Still, in the end, Pool decided to leave with Fire.

"If you ever decide to come back," Grassreader told her, "we will welcome you. You were born here, and you trained with us."

Pool had dipped her head to her former Healer. "Thank you, Grassreader," she meowed, before turning tail and following after Fire as he left the Tribe.

She saw an ocean for the first time, and a beach that had pure white sand. She saw a forest full of streams that was constantly throwing mist into the air. She saw an old, stone building that a few cats called home, and let her and Fire stay with them for a few days. These were the cats that taught Pool how to hunt.

"But I'm a Tribe Guard," she had meowed to cats who didn't understand what that meant to her. "I don't hunt, I fight."

"You were part of a group before, yes?" a tom asked in his thick accent. Pool nodded.

"You're only with Fire now," a she-cat told her. "You should learn to hunt for yourself."

And so, she did. It took a while, but she became competent enough to hunt for herself.

The first large group of cats they encountered wasn't a Tribe, or a Clan- it was a group of loners. Here, there was one leader, and the elders of the group would choose who the leader would be once that one died. The cats in training were taught by all the cats, and their training was a matter that was carefully planned among them. Fire told her to stay with him at all times, and she nodded her head and followed easily in his pawsteps.

There was one cat that Fire took a particular interest in, just like he had with Pool. He had dark brown fur and green eyes- at first sight, he reminded her of Pine, but his personality was the polar opposite of her littermate's. He was loud, and headstrong, and protective, while Pine was quiet, contemplative, and caring. The tom's name was Spark.

Fire taught him fighting moves that he had learned as he traveled, just like he had done with Pool, and he gave him advice for how to improve every time he missed a catch. Pool once told Spark that if that was what her training was like, she wasn't sure if she would have been able to cope. That earned her a confused look, and a question of what her training _was_ like.

Before she could answer, Fire started telling stories of cats who had long names, who had one leader who was also their healer, who choose a kit to learn from them that would take on their name once they died and lead their Tribe after them, who separated cats into hunters and fighters. Spark looked over his shoulder at Pool.

"But you're name's just Pool," he meowed, "That's not very long."

The black-furred she-cat blinked as she remembered how Fire introduced her to these cats- _My name is Fire, and this is my friend, Pool._ "That's not my full name," she told him. "It's Pool of Glistening Water."

Spark somehow managed to blink and widen his eyes at the same time. "Oh," he mewed. "Then, were you a hunter or a fighter?"

"I was a To-Be," she meowed, and at his confused look, she elaborated. "It was what we called cats in training. I was almost done, and was going to be a full Tribe Guard, before I left with Fire."

"Tribe Guard?" Spark asked.

"The terms for the fighters and hunters in our Tribe," Pool couldn't help but to purr the words 'fighter' and 'hunter', "are Tribe Guards and Prey Hunters."

"Then what was your leader called?"

"Grassreader was our Healer."

Spark blinked and widened his eyes again. "Your leader was called _Grassreader_?"

Pool nodded. "Her full name is Reader of the Tall Grass."

The group of three cats grew close. They listened as Fire told stories of his travels, and Pool even told Spark a few of her own when Fire had told her to stay with the tom. He particularly seemed to like the one where she learned to hunt.

Eventually, Fire started telling Spark about the evil cats and bad places. Unlike Pool, this made him angry- his claws tore into the ground and his tail lashed, anger flaring in his eyes. When Fire asked him to travel with him and Pool, he didn't hesitate to say yes. The cats gave a goodbye to the group of loners, and went on their way.

Pool looked at Spark carefully, and saw a cat that could start a movement if he wanted, but he didn't- instead, he chose to follow Fire. So, she started calling him Spark of Unknown Greatness.

Pool and Spark saw their first castle, sea shell, and the skull of Those Who Walk Strangely together. Fire had already seen all these things, but he told the two that their excitement made him feel like he was seeing them for the first time, too. They saw hill full of wooden crosses so tightly packed that they couldn't weave their way through, they padded through a place full of stones with engravings on them- from a distance, the three cats watched as a group of Those Who Walk Strangely wore all black and lowered a box into the ground, not caring about the rain wetting their fur.

"That's weird," Spark meowed.

"Twolegs are weird," Fire responded, his tail curled elegantly around his paws.

"Twolegs?" Spark asked, turning his head to look at the white tom. "Those are No Furs."

"We called them Those Who Walked Strangely," Pool meowed. She tilted her head. "I think one of them is in the box," she mewed.

"Are they killing it?" Spark asked, turning his attention back to Those Who Walk Strangely.

"I don't think so," Fire meowed. "I think it was already dead."

"So this is a funeral," Pool mewed. The group watched as the larger creatures left, then they padded up to the hole in the ground. Behind a stone, one of them watched the three cats as they stared down at the box before the three left.

Finally, the three found a rouge. Her fur was russet, as if it was evidence of all the cats Fire was sure she had killed right there on her pelt. Without flinching, Fire turned to look at Pool.

"Kill her."

"What?" the rogue asked, unsheathing her claws. Pool only nodded, stalking forward. Behind her, she heard Spark try to come with her and help, but Fire held him back.

"I want you to watch how Pool fights," he meowed. "Remember that she was trained only to fight before she left her Tribe."

Pool let the rogue attack first, unsheathed claws and bared fangs quickly coming her way. She dropped to the ground and rolled, quickly getting back to her paws and leaping onto her back, her claws digging into the skin and ripping, exposing blood and muscle. The cat under her screeched, rolling onto her back, but Pool let go just before she was crushed under her weight and rolled away once more. With the rogue still on her back, the black she-cat raced forward and scored her claws across her neck, turning her head to watch as the blood flowed from the wound. Slowly, but surely, the bleeding stopped.

Spark was impressed with her fighting skills, and begged her to teach her _some_ kind of Tribe fighting move. Every time she refused, shaking her head and telling him that the way he fought was just fine.

The next group of cats they met was in the first Twoleg Place that Pool and Spark ever went to- the buildings were large and towered far above even Those Who Walked Strangely's heads, and they didn't seem to care about a group of cats racing away from them. Even Fire admitted to never being in a Twoleg Place this large or active before. They found the group of cats, who called themselves Star Seekers, when they traveled underground. They lived next to a railway, and every other entrance like the one they had entered (the Star Seekers told them it was called a Subway Station by Those Who Walk Strangely, and that giant monsters like the ones they saw on the Thunderpaths used to travel on the rails) was busy, but the cats told them this one was abandoned.

The culture here was something that Pool had to get used to. They had two word long names, and didn't shorten them. They had a similar system to the Tribe, as they would separate cats by "Hunters" (here, they were called Gatherers, and brought back whatever they could find that looked somewhat edible) and Fighters, and each of those groups had a leader. Stranger still, was that those two leaders had a leader- while there was no retiring, the oldest cat in the Star Seekers would take on a physically easier life as leader. There were two Healers, each with their own Trainee, and unlike in the Tribes where every cat in the divided groups helped with training, a cat was assigned a mentor to help them train.

Here, Fire set his sights on two cats- one was a she-cat, with brown and white fur in a tabby pattern and golden eyes. She was excitable, happy, and passionate about everything she did. Her name was Fallen Sky. Her littermate was a pure brown tom, with amber eyes. He was quiet, and had a gloomy air around him, but he was just as passionate about the thing he did as his sister was. His name was Crow's Lament.

Fire let Pool and Spark socialize on their own here, as long as the two stayed together. Both of them gravitated towards the Fighters, and Pool told them about where she had come from.

"So Pool isn't your name?" One of them, a she-cat that she thought was named Flaming Heart, meowed. With an ear flick and a burst of frustration, Pool remembered that she had been introduced as only 'Pool' again.

"It is, but it's only part of it," Spark explained.

"My full name is Pool of Glistening Water." With a purr, she looked at Spark. "I like to call you Spark of Unknown Greatness."

Spark blinked and widened his eyes. "Really?" Pool nodded. "What do you call Fire?"

"Me and my littermate called him Fire that Never Rages."

One of the young Trainees who was listening to her perked his ears. With a heartbeat of thought, Pool remembered his name was Rain Feather. "What's your littermate's name?"

"Pine the Color of Obsidian," she meowed. "He looked a lot like Spark, actually."

Rain Feather made a habit of following the two outsiders around. When he went out for training, he invited them out to show them how great Twoleg Place could be, and they would usually accept. When Rain Feather was practicing fighting moves his mentor had taught him the day before, the two would give him advice, or show him moves from Spark's loner group or from the Tribe. Whenever Pool showed Rain Feather a Tribe fighting move, Spark would pay more attention than Pool thought he ever had in his life.

Occasionally, Fire would take Pool and Spark out into the Twoleg Place by himself. Rain Feather would ask to come with them, but Fire only shook his head, and told him that he wouldn't take him out without his mentor's permission. Whenever they did this, Fire's followers knew that they were on the hunt for rogues and other evil cats. They would always return to the camp of the Star Seekers with bloody claws, some wounds, and at least one dead cat in their wake. No cat asked any questions, though- getting into fights with other cats was a common occurrence, and the Healers kindly lent them the herbs needed to heal them. One of the Trainees, a she-cat named Melted Ice, was surprised to know that Pool and Spark knew nothing about healing and quickly taught them the basics.

It was on one of these outings, when they were returning to the Star Seekers den, that Fire spoke about leaving.

"Fallen Sky is ready to leave, and if she'll leave, so will Crow's Lament." The tom looked over his shoulder at the two cats behind him. "I think that Rain Feather may ask to come with us, as well. Tell him we're leaving."

The two cats dipped their head to the cat that had become their leader. "Yes, Fire," they meowed.

They told Rain Feather they were leaving once they woke up the next day. He thought for a long few heartbeats, before he nodded.

They left soon after. The leader of the Star Seekers, Hawk Wing, stared at Fire as the three Trainees made the announcement that they were leaving with him. "You did this before," he croaked. "With Pool and Spark."

"What does it matter?" Fire had asked. "Three of your cats have decided to travel with me, and I am willing to take them."

Hawk Wing narrowed his eyes, and Pool didn't like the look they held. "With the manipulation you did, I'm not surprised if they'd run away from us to stay with you." He raised his head higher as he looked at the Trainees. "You are welcome to leave, and when your travels turn sour, you will be welcomed back."

Fire turned tail and started to leave, his new followers on his tail and Spark close behind, but Pool hesitated. She dipped her head to Hawk Wing. "Thank you for allowing us to stay as long as we did, Hawk Wing."

"Your path _will_ turn sour," he warned. "When it does, I invite both you and Spark to join us as well."

Pool shook her head. "I have a secure place waiting for me with my Tribe," she assured. "I am well taken care of if anything goes wrong."

" _When_ something goes wrong," Hawk Wing corrected. Instead of responding, Pool turned tail and bounded after Fire and the rest.

Coming up with a Tribe name for Rain Feather was easy- she had spent so much time with him, after all. The name Rain that Clings to Feather stuck with the tom. For Fallen Sky and Crow's Lament, it was harder.

Fallen Sky was easily excitable, and had the energy of one hundred cats- Fallen Sky itself wasn't a name that seemed to fit her. Still, she decided that Energy that Fell From Sky fit with the she-cat. Crow's Lament was a gloomy, dark tom- while Crow's Lament was a name that fitted him just fine, Lamenting Crow Found at Dusk fit even better to Pool. Still, even though she didn't know them, she would never forget the look on their faces as they saw stars for the first time.

Another problem occurred with the fact that Fallen Sky was a Hunter. Fire told Pool to train her in fighting, and he told Fallen Sky to teach Crow's Lament and Rain Feather how to hunt. Every day, Pool found time to pull Fallen Sky aside and teach her a fighting move or two, and this was when she learned how important it was that Grassreader got Tribe Guards and Prey Hunters right.

For the fast and leaping moves that had taken Pool ages to learn, Fallen Sky easily picked them up. For everything else, she was clumsy, not sure where to place her paws, and weak. Still, Pool was patient, Fallen Sky was passionate, and it gave the two she-cats more time to learn about each other. Fallen Sky was one of the cats who didn't know about the Tribe, so Pool told her about it. When the younger she-cat learned Pool's full name, she meowed "and I thought my name was long!"

Crow's Lament was still a mystery to her, but both Spark and Rain Feather told her that he was creepy.

They saw a beach with black sand, and another that had only sea shells. They saw tall, towering statues of Those Who Walk Strangely. In a much, much smaller mountain side Twoleg Place than the one that Fallen Sky, Crow's Lament, and Rain Feather were from, they watched and played as millions of colored flower petals fell from the sky, not caring about the blood that stained Crow's Lament and Rain Feather's claws. Once, they saw a tree that had pink and orange leaves, even though it was the middle of the summer.

The next group of cats they met was a Clan, and Fire's followers were once again allowed to socialize on their own while he set his sights on a gray she-cat with black paws, ears, and tail and blue eyes. Her name was Cloverpaw- she was quiet, smart, and introspective.

They didn't spend as much time here as Fire had spent at the Tribe, or that they had spent at Spark's group, or that they had spent at Star Seekers. As it turned out, Cloverpaw wasn't a big fan of the Clans, and she had always wanted to travel- getting to take care of all the bad in the world was just a bonus to her. Pool started calling her Clover that Wanders Across Worlds.

They saw a large tree that took the cats seventeen heartbeats to run around, and was so tall that they couldn't see the top of it even when Spark and Cloverpaw tried to climb the trees around it. Fallen Sky, who hadn't climbed a tree in her life, unsheathed her claws, yowling "I'm gonna climb it!" before Pool sunk her teeth into her scruff to keep her on the ground. Crow's Lament looked disappointed that he couldn't watch his sister fail. They saw a forest full of dark, leafless trees that let beams of golden sunlight pass through them. During the day, though, the dark trees were contrasted by the bright green grass. On quite a few nights where they had traveled north, they saw lights in the sky that changed colors and seemed to be dancing. Fire told them that he had seen them before when he was with the cats that believed their ancestors had powers- they said that the lights were their ancestors dancing.

The next group they met, to Pool's delight, was another Tribe. They lived underground, with becoming masters of navigating tunnels. Instead of Tribe Guards, they had Cave Guards. To make Pool even happier, Fire let her take the lead on speaking to them.

When they first met the Tribe cats, evident by their names and the way they introduced themselves, Pool nearly jumped out of her fur with excitement. She nudged Spark with her shoulder, and he purred at the look in her eyes. Fire flicked his tail at her, urging her forward, and whispered for her to introduce them.

She put one paw in front of herself and dipped her head, an action she hadn't been able to do in so long and one that made her feel like the was back in the grasslands that she thought of so fondly and with the cats she missed so much, and spoke. "My name is Pool of Glistening Water," she meowed, and she pointed to the other cats with her tail. "This is our leader, Fire, and the rest of our cats are Spark, Rain Feather, Fallen Sky, Crow's Lament, and Cloverpaw."

"Pool of Glistening Water?" a tom that introduced himself as Mountain Looming over Sea asked. "Isn't that a Tribe name?"

Pool nodded. "I come from the Tribe of Towering Grass, a Tribe in a place far away from here. I was a To-Be, training to become a Tribe Guard, when I left to travel the world with Fire."

"A truly brave choice, I imagine," a she-cat called Root of Many Legends meowed. "Come, Tunnelteller would love to meet you."

"Tunnelteller?" Cloverpaw had asked as they Pool fell behind the Tribe cats, letting them lead the way through the tunnels they knew so well. "That sounds more like a Clan name."

"Pool's Healer was called Grassreader, but her full name was Reader of the Tall Grass," Fire meowed. "It seems that only Healers in the Tribes have names like Clan cats."

"Why is that?" Rain Feather asked, looking at Pool.

"Their names describe what they do," she meowed. "Grassreader read the grass to look for signs from The Tribe of Endless Hunting, so I guess that Tunnelteller looks to the tunnels to speak with his ancestors."

Fallen Sky hummed in response, and the group was silent for the rest of the journey.

Tunnelteller was an old tom, with his To-Be at his side at all times to help him when needed. His fur was a blue-gray color, and the fur around his muzzle was silver. "I heard that we might be getting visitors," he meowed.

"From who?" Crow's Lament asked.

"The Tribe of Endless Hunting," his To-Be meowed. "Their messages are quite clear."

"Who's that?" Cloverpaw whispered to Pool.

"Tunnelteller's To-Be, I think," she whispered back.

The To-Be turned his dark eyes to Pool, and she felt like her soul was being stared at. "They also said-"

Tunnelteller cut him off. "That a Tribe cat would be with them," he meowed. Pool introduced herself once more to the two cats.

"I am Teller of the Swirling Tunnels, and this is my To-Be, Dew that Clings to Grass." Dew dipped his gray head, blue eyes closed.

Fire stepped forward. "I am the leader of these travelers," he meowed. "My name is Fire."

Tunnelteller's eyes narrowed slightly, but he dipped his head anyway. "It's a group I would be proud of."

Here, while the others were allowed to be on their own, Pool was told to stay with Fire at all times. He had his sights set on a black tom with green eyes- one that Pool imagined looked a lot like herself. His name was Fawn Lost in Forest. He was proud and eager, yet quiet. Pool watched as Fire went with him on his Prey Hunter training (and was glad that she wasn't subjected to that kind of boredom), and listened as he told stories of his travels. He even put in some stories that the group had had- the one where Pool, Spark, and himself were at a funeral for Those Who Walk Strangely, when Fallen Sky tried to climb the giant tree, when they saw the lights of dancing ancestors.

It was when Pool knew that Fire was going to start talking about rogues and evil cats that she was called into Tunnelteller's and Dew's den for the first time. When Fire tried to follow, Tunnelteller meowed " _Just_ Pool." She was surprised that Fire was glaring, and even more surprised that she could feel it trained on the Healer as she padded into the toms den.

The three cats settled in the den, and Pool looked at the large hole in the ceiling that was letting in light from outside. It didn't take long for her eyes to adjust, but it was nice to see grass and sunlight again.

"Your cats have been here for a while," Tunnelteller began. "They already know Tribe culture from you, so why are you here?"

Pool shook her head, even though she knew- she could only assume that Tunnelteller wouldn't be too thrilled about the fact that Fire was trying to steal one of his cats away. "That's something Fire is keeping to himself."

"But Fire trusts you, doesn't he?" Dew asked, tilting his head. "You haven't left his side since you got here."

 _I don't think that's because he trusts me,_ she thought. _I think that's because he thinks I might leave his group of I'm around Tribe cats too long._ "Fire keeps many things to himself," she told them, curling her tail around her paws. "He's a good tom; I think he worries that I may get homesick if I'm around Tribe cats too long," she meowed instead of what she was thinking.

"What have you gotten from traveling with Fire?" Tunnelteller asked. "He seems to be gaining more than his followers."

"It's a lot of things," Pool meowed. "It would take a while for me to tell you."

"We don't care," Dew told her.

And so, she spoke. From beginning to end, she spoke of how at first it was just her and Fire. She told them about the beach with pure white sand, and her first time seeing an ocean. She told them about the old stone building, and the cats who lived there who taught her to hunt. She told them about meeting the group that Spark was originally a part of, and how he joined them. She told them about the castle, the sea shell, the skull of Those Who Walk Strangely. She told them about the wooden crosses, and the funeral. She told them about the Twoleg Place where they found the Star Seekers (explaining that that was where Fallen Sky, Crow's Lament, and Rain Feather were from), and about the black sand beach and the sea shell beach. She told them about the colorful petals and the two amazing trees she had seen (and the Clan Cloverpaw was from in between), and the beautiful forest. Finally, she told them about the dancing lights, and then how they ended up at the Tribe.

She left out the killing she had done along the way.

The toms looked at each other. "That's a lot of things," Dew meowed.

"Was all that worth leaving your home for?" Tunnelteller asked, his tail flicking.

Pool blinked, her jaw opening and closing as the thought. She had met amazing cats, witnessed strange cultures (she'd even seen a warrior ceremony at Cloverpaw's Clan), and seen amazing things as she traveled with Fire and the others. Spark, Rain Feather, Falling Sky, Crow's Lament, and Cloverpaw were all her friends. Well, she guessed that Crow's Lament was a friend by association.

But was killing cats worth all that?

Quickly she reminded herself that she was cleansing the world- Fire was sure of it, and so was she and the rest of Fire's cats. All of them had blood on their paws.

"Y-yes," Pool mewed, not being able to stop the stutter. "It was." She rose to her paws, dipping her head to the two cats and padding out of the den. When she met Fire, he asked why she was with them for so long, and what they talked about. She told him that they asked why she and the others traveled with him, so she told them about all the things she had seen.

"But not about the rogues?" he hissed, his eyes blazing. Pool nodded. He relaxed, and apologized for hissing at her, before he led her to the den the Tribe was letting them stay in.

The next morning, Pool woke to the sound of Fallen Sky speaking.

"-And I tried to climb it, but Pool held me back cause I hadn't climbed a tree before, or _whatever_ \- oh! And there was also this time where we were in a Twoleg Place by a mountain, and it was raining a bunch of different colors of flower petals, and we all started chasing them! That was where we-"

"Don't," Crow's Lament cold and calm voice cut in. "Fire doesn't want us talking about that, remember?"

"Oh, right, sorry," Fallen Sky meowed. Pool rose to her paws, yawning, shaking out her fur and padding out of the den. In the camp, she saw Fallen Sky and Crow's Lament speaking with Dew. She narrowed her eyes, her tail lashing. Dew's blue eyes raised to meet her green ones, and he dipped his head in goodbye to the two former Star Seekers before he padded back towards the Healer's den. Pool padded towards the two.

"You know, Fallen Sky," she meowed, "there's supposed to be this little voice in your head that sometimes tells you 'no'. It's called self-preservation instinct, and I don't think you have one."

"What do you mean?" the she-cat asked.

"Tunnelteller and Dew are looking into us," she meowed. "They called me into their den yesterday to ask what I got from traveling with Fire." She lowered her voice and her head. "Whatever you do, don't. Talk. About. The. Rogues."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Fallen Sky meowed, flicking an ear, while Crow's Lament just nodded.

Later that day, Fire told Fawn about BloodClan, while Pool watched as Dew interrogated Rain Feather and Spark. A few days later, while Fire was telling Fawn about the Clan of cats who sacrificed kits, Dew started to pad up to them. Pool tapped her tail on Fire's paw, and he moved his attention towards the Healer.

The gray tom payed Fire no mind as he asked Pool if he could show her something on the Tribe's territory. Pool glanced at Fire, who murmured to her not to trust him and she looked back at the Healer and nodded.

The two left the Tribe's camp and made their way through the tunnels. Although Pool was getting to know them fairly well at this point, she let Dew lead the way through them, before he leapt up to the surface. Once Pool was there with him, she took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air that was so hard to get in the tunnels. Dew only purred at her, a sound that made her perk her ears as she hadn't heard that from him before. He only turned tail and led her away from the tunnel entrance, but while he easily leapt over a gap where the earth quickly went several feet down then came back up, Pool slipped in.

Dew looked over the edge at her, a smile on his face as he purred at her. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Pool shot him a look. "Just get me out of here," she growled. After a few minutes, Pool had successfully maneuvered out of the gap. She shook out her ruffled fur and raised her head, but Dew was still purring at her. He flicked her shoulder with the tip of his tail- an act that she was surprised he would even think about doing, and started padding away once more. Pool bounded after him.

Eventually, they arrived at a river, which was disappointing for Pool. She had seen many rivers- this one was calm, and even though the sound of the current was relaxing, it wasn't memorable. But Dew padded upstream, and she followed him. Eventually, she saw where he was going.

Stones jutted out from the shallow water, but here the current was so fast the water was white with foam as it rushed around them. The land was sloping downwards, making it a waterfall, and adding to the water's speed. Dew leapt onto a rock, then another, and another, until he got to one of the largest boulders in the middle of the river. "Come on!" he called. "It's not hard!"

Nervously, Pool bunched her muscles and leapt, her paws clinging to the stone under her. Then, she leapt again, and again, and again, until she nearly ran into Dew. The Healer helped her steady herself, and the two sat and watched the water.

"This is the best place on the territory," Dew meowed. "It is to me, anyways."

"This is somewhere I'd remember," Pool meowed. Turning her eyes to the dark green grass, she spoke again. "It's somewhere I'd tell other cats about."

"I'm glad to hear it," he told her.

Looking down at her paws, Pool found herself looking at her shadow again. Her ear flicked, and its ear flicked. Her tail lashed, and its tail lashed. Her whiskers twitched, and its whiskers twitched. She realized with a start that she had left so many ghosts behind her, both living and dead, that it was impossible to count- there were so many cats that she had met that she hadn't thought about, and so many that she had killed. Cats that had a voice that were dead now because of her.

"Can I tell you something?" Dew asked. Pool let out a hum and nodded. "You seem lonely."

Pool thought for a heartbeat. "Maybe I am," she admitted. "Maybe all of us- even Falling Sky are." Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Dew's eyes softened.

It was a few days after that that she had her first doubts. Were she and the others really making the world better? There were so many amazing places that they had seen, and one of the things Fire told them was that for every bad cat, one great place they've seen doesn't matter anymore. And so she killed them- she killed rogues, and cats in Twoleg Place that had done things that would make BloodClan shameful. Does killing a bad cat making killing right?

She shook her head- Fire _was_ right. He _had_ to be.

The next time she had doubts, it was when Dew had licked her on the ear, and Cloverpaw and Fallen Sky jumped on the teasing opportunity. While Pool's ears had warmed and she kept telling them to shut up, and Spark and Rain Feather said that any cat that was going to be Pool's mate had to have their approval, Fire looked murderous.

 _Would he really kill a cat just to keep my loyalty?_ Pool thought.

 _Yes, he would,_ a voice inside her said.

She shook her head, erasing the thoughts from her mind.

The last time he had doubts was when Fire said that they were leaving. He told them that Fawn was ready to join them, and that they would be leaving soon. Pool thought about the tom standing over the body of a familiar looking russet she-cat- the first cat she had killed- with blood covering his paws. She didn't like thinking about it.

When Fire told Tunnelteller and Dew that they were leaving, Fawn announced that he was leaving with them.

"So this is what you do," Tunnelteller spoke after a few silent heartbeats. "You manipulate cats into joining you."

"Fawn has chosen to join me and my followers," Fire meowed. "It doesn't matter what you think."

"It does," Tunnelteller meowed. "You are on our territory, you have eaten our prey, and Fawn is a cat of our Tribe."

"I'm joining Fire," Fawn meowed.

"Fire made you think you want to join him," Dew meowed. "It happened to them-" he flicked his tail at Pool, Spark, Fallen Sky, Crow's Lament, Rain Feather, and Cloverpaw, "too."

"No, it didn't," Fire meowed.

"He just told us he was going to get rid of all the bad in the world!" Fallen Sky meowed. Spark raised a paw and cuffed her around the ear.

"Remember that talk we had?" Pool hissed. "About the little voice that says 'no'?"

"Yeah," Fallen Sky meowed, in a voice that sounded sad. "You said I didn't have one."

Dew padded up to Fire's followers. "What did he tell you?" he asked. "No cat will hurt you if you tell me."

"Fire's our leader," Cloverpaw growled.

"He's helping us take care of all the evil cats in the world," Crow's Lament meowed, licking a paw.

Fire let out a growl from the other side of the cave. With a flash of nostalgia, Pool remembered when Pine first called him Fire that Never Rages. _Oh, Pine,_ she thought, _look at how wrong we were._

"You can tell me," Dew meowed, looking at the six cats in front of him. His eyes lingered on Pool for the longest, and she spoke.

"He said for every beautiful thing we saw, every bad cat in the world made it worthless," she mewed quietly.

"And that all of us were helping the world," Spark added.

"He told us about all the good stuff first," Cloverpaw meowed. "I really liked the one about the cave with paintings in it, that had a cavern full of stone animals on leather cords, and how the cats there believed that their ancestors had powers."

"Then he told us about BloodClan, and the Clan that sacrifices kits to Gods, and how rogues would kill cats for no reason," Rain Feather meowed.

"You've killed cats, haven't you?" Tunnelteller asked. The only answer he got was the shame in Pool's lowered head and ears, the shame in Sparks slumped shoulders, the disappointment in himself that was radiating off of Rain Feather, the unusual sadness from Fallen Sky, the shame and disappointment covering every inch of Cloverpaw, and the unbreaking stare from Crow's Lament. That was answer enough for the Tribe, as murmurs broke out among them. Pool couldn't bring herself to lift her head.

"Escort Fire off of our territory," Tunnelteller ordered. Pool heard more than saw a group of Cave Guards surround the white tom, and he left the camp shooting glares over his shoulder. "You six are welcome to stay," he added.

"But they've killed cats!" a voice yowled.

"And they feel shame," Dew meowed back. "They thought they were doing good then, and now they feel differently. Come on," he added the second part in a lower voice, leading the six cats to the den they had shared with Fire. Each of them looked at the Healer's To-Be for a few heartbeats, before he leaned forward to lick Pool between the ears before he bounded back towards Tunnelteller. No cat felt in the mood for teasing her as they went to their nests, pausing first to pull them as far away from Fire's empty one as they could before they fell asleep.

It took time for them to recover. Fallen Sky told Pool that she wished she had never taught her to fight, but she was never mad about it. Rain Feather thought about the Subway Station, and the tall buildings of Twoleg Place that the Star Seekers lived in. He told Pool, Spark, and Cloverpaw that they were called Star Seekers because the cats lived their before the Twoleg Place was there. They weathered the construction of the Twoleg Place, and moved into the Subway from an alleyway as soon as it was abandoned. They adjusted to life, but one thing they would never stop missing was the stars. Cloverpaw thought about her mentor- she told them that she had had two- her first one died from an illness when she was starting her training, and the second was the one she had when she left. Spark thought about how every cat in his group thought about his training, and every cat acknowledged how important it was that every cat in training be taught right. Pool told them about how once, she had tried to go hunting with Pine, and she caused him to miss every catch, but he never got mad at her for it, even when the older Prey Hunters yelled at him for bringing nothing back. None of them knew what Crow's Lament was thinking.

But, slowly, they got better. Dew made a point to spend more time with Pool. Fallen Sky started joining the Prey Hunters on nearly every patrol. Rain Feather and Spark taught the young To-Be Cave Guards moves that they had learned when they were part of the loner group and Star Seekers, Cloverpaw was spending a lot of time with a she-cat Prey Hunter, and Crow's Lament had found a tom in the Cave Guards he got along with nicely.

Eventually, they had come to an agreement to join the Tribe.

Pool died old, after Dew (then Tunnelteller), Spark, and Fallen Sky, but before Cloverpaw, Rain Feather, and Crow's Lament. When she joined the Tribe of Endless Hunting, she was surprised to find that Pine's was the first face she saw.


	4. Goodbye John Smith (Warriors)

**Song- Goodbye John Smith by Barns Courtney**

The black tom padded forward, almost stumbling under the weight on his back and struggling to breathe through the bundles of herbs in his jaws. There were three reasons to get to camp, he reminded himself- the herbs in his jaws. His warrior name. The weight on his back.

He kept padding forward. His paws were screaming at him to stop- scratched pads and travel didn't mix well- but he kept moving forward. He hadn't stopped for the past two days, not even for sleep or to eat. He had to get back to RainClan.

* * *

" _He's back!" a voice yowled, one that sounded squeaky, like a kit. He drowsily lifted his head, looking at the other apprentices in the den. First off, he saw a gray tabby tom, blinking bright blue eyes clear of sleep. This tom and himself were both large enough to be warriors, but hadn't been given their names, final assessments, or even journeys to the Moon Ridge. They had watched with humiliation as apprentices younger than them were given warrior names. They had watched as kits were given their apprentice names, and were granted their journey to the Moon Ridge moons into their training._

 _They were treated like warriors by their mentors, and by the rest of the Clan. They constantly helped in training the other apprentices. Yet they had been granted no name, because of a past that they had no part of, and a leader that cared too much for history._

 _He rose to his paws, shaking out his black fur before he padded silently around the nests of the other apprentices. Him and his littermate were looked at as a kind of den mother in this particular den._

 _A large, gray tom stood in the center of camp as warriors gathered around him. Nods were exchanged, and words were shared. The black tom barely noticed when his brother appeared at the mouth of the den next to him._

" _He's back?" the tabby questioned, letting out a large yawn. "I thought it would've taken longer than that to get nine lives."_

" _Well, apparently, it doesn't." The gray tom leaped onto a large boulder, his tail swishing to the side._

" _Let all cats strong enough to persevere the flood waters join here beneath the Tall Rock for a Clan meeting!" the tom yowled, his voice easily reaching all corners of the camp. The two oldest apprentices padded side by side, and sat down next to a white she-cat._

" _I'm sure he'll mention something about you two," she meowed, curling her tail elegantly around her paws. "Volestar was a fool not to make you warriors, and the whole Clan knows it."_

 _The black tom nodded his head. "Thank you, Beechcloud," he meowed. The warrior nodded her head._

" _It's about time you two got your names," she spoke, and left it at that. The new leader spoke._

" _As you could assume, I have gone to the Moon Ridge and have earned my nine lives. I am now the rightful leader of RainClan."_

" _Flailstar!" the Clan cheered. "Flailstar!"_

 _The leader dipped his head as his Clan cheered his name, waiting for the cheers to fade out before he spoke again. "First, I must choose a deputy. I have thought long and hard about this decision, even on my way to and from the Moon Ridge, and I have decided that Tinyfeather will be the new deputy of RainClan."_

 _The black tom's ears perked, and he turned his head to look at his mentor. The small, gray and white tabby she-cat padded forward and dipped her head. "I humbly accept, Flailstar. I can only hope to serve my Clan to the best of my ability."_

" _Tinyfeather! Tinyfeather!" the Clan cheered, and the black tom made sure his voice was heard clearly over the noise._

" _Finally," Flailstar meowed. "There are two apprentices that have held that title for too long."_

 _The tabby and the black tom raised their heads. Beechcloud purred from beside them. "Strikepaw, Sunpaw, come forward." Both toms rose to their paws and padded through the crowd of cats, standing in front of both Flailstar and Tinyfeather. "You two come from a line of cats that have done horrible things to the Clans," the leader began, "yet you both have proved yourself to be different from your ancestors, The Dark Furred Ones. Volestar was too afraid of what you would do as warriors to leave you without the constant supervision of your mentors, and all cats know that this was a mistake._

" _However," Flailstar meowed, "A journey must be made, and I have already gone to the Moon Ridge." Strikepaw and Sunpaw glanced at each other, disappointment in their gazes. "Quicktail tells me that RockClan is fighting an illness that requires an herb from Twoleg Place. Your ancestors once terrorised RockClan, forcing them into a smaller territory and to nearly starve to death. Your task now, is to go to Twoleg Place and find the herb they need, and redeem your bloodline to the eyes of their Clan. When you return, you will be given your warrior names."_

 _The black tom dipped his head, his golden eyes shining in excitement. "Thank you, Flailstar," Sunpaw meowed._

" _Go see Quicktail for traveling herbs and the description of the herb RockClan needs. May StarClan light your path."_

 _The two toms nodded, turning tail and padding towards Quicktail's den. The crowd parted for them, words of encouragement murmured quietly in their wake._

* * *

Sunpaw held his head high, despite the herbs in his jaws and the weight on his back. He had to get to RockClan, then he had to get back to RainClan. He repeated that thought to himself, to scared to think of anything else in fear of breaking down. His paws were sore, but he continued on. Eventually, he had to focus his mind onto his paws, too scared of falling to not be careful of where he stepped. He didn't stop. He kept moving.

* * *

" _This'll be fun," Strikepaw meowed, flicking his tail to the side as they left the RainClan scent line behind. "We'll meet new cats, and fight new cats, and-"_

" _Gather herbs?" Sunpaw suggested._

" _And gather herbs," Strikepaw added with a nod. "And after all that, we'll finally have our warrior names, and we'll help RockClan, too!"_

 _Sunpaw purred. "Yeah," he meowed, his body buzzing at the thought of what his future held for him._

* * *

He padded past the RockClan border, hardly realizing he had over the scent of the herbs in his jaws. He didn't care that he was supposed to wait at the border. He had to get back to RainClan. He had to bring Strikepaw home.

He didn't know where the RockClan camp was, but he stopped in his place when a patrol padded out and surrounded him. The leader of the patrol, a russet tom, took a step forward, eying Strikepaw on his back hesitantly.

"What are you doing on RockClan territory?" he asked. Sunpaw dipped his head and put down his bundles of herbs.

"I have herbs for your medicine cat," he meowed. His voice sounded hoarse from disuse.

"And whose _he_?" a small, white she-cat who looked to be an apprentice asked. "Did you kill him?"

"Snowpaw," the russet tom growled, and the she-cat lowered her head and ears, but kept glaring at Sunpaw.

"Can't you smell him?" a black she-cat with pale gray markings meowed to the apprentice. "He's a RainClan warrior, and I'm sure the dead one is, too."

"What happened to him?" the russet tom asked, his tail flicking to the side.

Sunpaw hesitated before he answered. "Strikepaw didn't make it."

"Strike _paw_?" Snowpaw asked. "Shouldn't you two be warriors by now?"

"Quiet, Snowpaw," the black she-cat meowed.

"Follow us," the russet tom meowed. He turned around and padded deeper into RockClan territory, with his patrol and Sunpaw on his heels.

* * *

" _Is that what a Twoleg Place looks like?" Sunpaw asked, his golden eyes wide as he stared upwards._

" _It's huge!" Strikepaw meowed, padding forward towards the massive buildings._

" _Wait, Strikepaw!" Sunpaw meowed, but the other apprentice only went faster, leaping over a wooden fence and into an alleyway. Sunpaw balanced himself on top of the wood, and didn't have time to react before a white tom appeared behind a crate and scratched at Strikepaw's side._

" _Get out of my alley!" he yowled, as Sunpaw dropped down onto him from the fence._

" _Strikepaw, run!" Sunpaw ordered, leaping off of the rouge and down the alley as fast as he could. He could hear Strikepaw following after him, and they skidded to a stop outside of the alley, and just in front of a Thunderpath. The rouge, satisfied that they were off of his territory, left them alone. Sunpaw looked down at Strikepaw's wound. "We can't treat that," he meowed._

 _Strikepaw shrugged. "I'll make it until we get back to Quicktail."_

* * *

"I'd suggest leaving Strikepaw out here," the black she-cat meowed before they entered camp. "You wouldn't want to frighten the cats in there."

Hesitantly, Sunpaw nodded, and with the help of the russet tom (who said he was named Ryeriver), they laid Strikepaw on the ground outside of the RockClan camp. The four cats padded inside, and Snowpaw led him to the Medicine Den.

Inside, cats were coughing, and a thin, shaggy furred gray tom was going from nest to nest, tending to all the cats. He looked up with blazing, dark blue eyes at the two cats, sniffing the air. "RainClan," he meowed, seemingly to himself. "You're one of the Cats Flailstar sent?" Sunpaw nodded. "Where's the other one?"

"He's dead," Snowpaw meowed bluntly. "Lying outside camp."

The thin tom padded forward and lifted a paw, giving the apprentice a harsh cuff around the ears. "That dead cat gave up his life to save our Clan," he growled. "You should treat him better than that."

Snowpaw quickly nodded, her eyes wide. "Yes, Northfrost!" she meowed, before racing outside of the den.

Northfrost turned his eyes towards Sunpaw. "You're a descendant of The Dark Furred Ones, aren't you?" he meowed. Sunpaw nodded once more, glancing down at his pitch black pelt. "Your brother, did he have fur as dark as yours?"

"No," he meowed. "He was a gray tabby."

Northfrost meowed. "Than maybe he was why you both turned out so good," he commented. "What's your name?"

"Sunpaw," he meowed. Northfrost nodded, before shoving him out of the den with a bony shoulder.

"I have work to be done, and I'm sure that Thistlestar wants to see you." He padded deeper into the den with a flick of his tail. Slowly, Sunpaw turned to look at a large, white tom, who was summoning him with a flick of his tail.

"Sunpaw, is it?" he asked, flicking an ear.

"Yes, Thistlestar," he meowed.

Thistlestar dipped his head to the apprentice. "RockClan thanks you for getting the herbs we needed," he meowed. Lifting his head up, he narrowed his eyes. "If you don't mind me asking, why don't you have a warrior name yet?"

"My ancestors are The Dark Furred Ones," Sunpaw explained, "and Volestar was too afraid of what Strikepaw and I would do as warriors. Flailstar promised us our warrior names when we returned."

Slowly, Thistlestar nodded. "May StarClan Light Your Path," he told the apprentice. "Breezewatcher, Mothshade," two cats raised their heads, looking towards their leader. One was a sleek, black she-cat whose fur was only as dark as the black she-cat that was part of Ryeriver's patrol and not nearly as dark as his. The other was a cream she-cat, with pine green eyes. "Help Sunpaw bring his brother back to the RainClan camp."

They looked around with a confused look on their faces, but nodded anyway. Sunpaw dipped his head towards Thistlestar, leading the way out of camp. He heard the two she-cats follow behind him.

"Great StarClan," Mothshade, the cream she-cat, meowed as she looked down at Strikepaw.

"His wound got infected," Breezewatcher noticed, sniffing at the tabby, and looking up at Sunpaw from the corner of her eye. "Didn't you say that you were a Dark Furred One?"

"My ancestors were," Sunpaw corrected.

"I thought all of you had 'fur as black as night', or whatever," Breezewatcher meowed, ignoring his comment.

"Strikepaw was different," he meowed.

The two she-cats helped place Strikepaw onto his back, and walked by his sides so that the dead apprentice wouldn't fall to the ground.

* * *

 _Herbs in bundles in their jaws, they padded easily across the flat landscape. Strikepaw was acting strangely, almost as if he was sick, but he kept up his usual happy and excited demeanor as they padded forward. Their pace slowed, but they were still moving, and Sunpaw was excited to earn his warrior name._

* * *

The three cats entered the RainClan camp when the sun was nearly set. Cats turned their eyes towards the rustling entrance and the RockClan scent, their eyes widening when they saw Strikepaw lying on top of Sunpaw's back. They were stopped at the entrance of camp by Flailstar, his green eyes staring at Strikepaw before they turned to Sunpaw.

"What happened?"

Sunpaw told him everything- about how he had leapt into a rouge's alley and gathering the herbs, and him seeming fine for a while, and then him falling, and not getting up again. Flailstar nodded when he was done with his story, and narrowed his eyes at the apprentice before him.

"When was the last time you ate, or slept?" he asked.

Sunpaw hesitated. "Two days ago."

Flailstar turned his eyes from Sunpaw to Breezewatcher, and from Breezewatcher to Mothshade. "Put him down in the center of the clearing," he ordered. "Thank you for helping Sunpaw bring him back home."

The two warriors nodded to the RainClan leader, and padded to the center of camp with Sunpaw. Smoothly, the three cats set him on the ground, and the RockClan cats left camp.

"Eat something, then sleep," Flailstar meowed. "Your warrior ceremony will be in the morning.

Sunpaw looked down at Strikepaw's body. "But-"

"You carried him here without sleep or rest," the leader meowed. "He knows you care about him. Now go eat."

* * *

 _He heard a thump from behind him, and looked over his shoulder to see a gray tabby tom lying on the ground. His flanks heaved with each labored breath, and the fur on his side was covered in dried blood. "Strikepaw!" he yowled, dropping the bundle of herbs in his jaws and rushing towards the other tom._

 _Strikepaw looked up at him with his bright blue eyes. His own bundle of herbs was lying only a few mouse tails away from his jaws, discarded by the fallen apprentice. He was panting, fighting for each breath and grasping onto it desperately._

" _I can't," Strikepaw panted. "I can't," he repeated_

" _You_ have _to," Sunpaw meowed, his tail flicking. "We'll finally get our warrior names."_

" _I guess-" Strikepaw broke off in a cough, blood leaving his jaws and landing on the grass. "I guess you'll be getting yours without me."_

" _No, no," Sunpaw meowed, "you can't give up now. Not when we're finally getting what we've always wanted."_

" _I know you can do it, Sunpaw," Strikepaw mewed quietly, as if he didn't have the energy to speak any louder. "The rest of our kin are in the Place of No Stars. We'll be the first to go to StarClan," he meowed. Tears slowly filled his eyes. "Wouldn't that be nice? Going to StarClan?"_

" _And we will," Sunpaw reassured. "But not today."_

" _I hear that they're always in Greenleaf," Strikepaw meowed, "and that cats never go hungry, or get sick."_

 _Sunpaw felt his eyes burning with unshed tears. "What will happen to me if you're gone?" he asked softly. "I won't know where to start without you."_

 _Strikepaw's eyes focused again, and he blinked slowly up at his brother. "See things," he meowed. "Go on every mission Flailstar offers." The gray tabby turned his head to look at the sky- the sky that Sunpaw knew was cloudy. The light was quickly, yet slowly leaving the apprentice's eyes, and Sunpaw thought that was something only Strikepaw could have done. "You're gone," Strikepaw meowed. "The sun's gone, so you are too. Take my herbs and shoo."_

 _Sunpaw surprised himself. He laughed. Tears fell from his eyes, and he kept laughing in between sobs. When he calmed down, Strikepaw was lying there, still, on the ground._

 _The black tom slowly hefted his brother onto his back. He carefully picked up Strikepaw's bundle of herbs, then his own, and he kept going._

* * *

"I, Flailstar, leader of RainClan," the tom meowed, looking up at the sky that was slowly getting brighter from the sunrise from his place on the Tall Rock, "call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. He has trained hard to learn the way of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn."

Flintstar looked down at Sunpaw. He could feel an excitement that reminded him of Strikepaw thrumming through his veins. "Sunpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do," the tom meowed. Strikepaw had talked about life in StarClan before he died, and Sunpaw wanted to join him there someday.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Sunpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Sunfire. StarClan honors your dedication and loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of RainClan."

Flailstar leapt off of the Tall Rock, setting his muzzle on top of his head. Sunfire licked his shoulder in return.

* * *

" _Strikepaw! Sunpaw! Strikepaw! Sunpaw!"_ _The Clan cheered._

 _Volestar narrowed his eyes, his gaze directed towards the nursery. "Now that these two are apprentices, Vixentuft's sentence can be carried out." The leader narrowed his eyes towards the deputy. "Flailflame, bring her forward."_

 _The crowd parted as a she-cat, with fur as dark as Sunpaw's and eyes as bright as Strikepaw's was padding in front of a gray tom. "Vixentuft," Volestar began, "eight moons ago you were sentanced to execution, and eight moons ago you revealed you were expecting kits. Your crime, itself, was murdering kits, and now that Strikepaw and Sunpaw have no need of your care any longer, the time for your death has come. Do you have anything to say?"_

 _Vixentuft looked at Strikepaw and Sunpaw- she'd never looked at them with love, only with a sort of thankfulness, and Sunpaw knew that it was because they were the reason she was still alive. She looked back up at Volestar with a dark smile on her face and her head held high. "No, I killed those kits," she meowed._

 _Volestar's eyes narrowed, and he leapt down from the Tall Rock. In less than a heartbeat, his claws easily scoring across her throat._

* * *

" _Sunfire! Sunfire!"_ The Clan cheered. He was sure that he could hear Strikepaw's voice.


	5. This is Love (Warriors)

Yes, she knew where it had all started- the point that led up to the moment she was in now. It started one day in newleaf.

She had been born to two respected MorningClan warriors who lived in their own twisted version of romance. She was born alongside a tom named Silverkit, who barely survived his first moon and died halfway into his second.

She was a pretty kit with the makings of a beautiful warrior. Her fur was in a tabby pattern, the stripes being dark ginger and black. On her right shoulder was a brighter ginger, nearly golden marking in a crescent shape, but the color made it appear as more of a sun than a moon. Her eyes were the same ice blue as her father's- the reason that she existed in the first place.

" _I have decided that Shadowkit will make a suitable mate for you,"_ he told her one warm day in newleaf- and that was where it started. Perhaps it was only because she looked up to her father so much that she grew a crush on the kit- one with long, gangly legs that held the promise of a fast warrior, white fur with wispy gray patches, dark gray paws, and eyes the color of the sky above their heads.

It wasn't until she was well on her way to becoming a warrior that they grew close. Shadowpaw proved himself to be kind and caring with a wit that could combat the worst of her grumpiness and sarcastic comments. Even as she was scolded and her mentor tried to end her rebellious streak, Shadowpaw stayed by her side and encouraged her to be herself. Despite the fact that her father had long since joined StarClan and gained a star to represent himself in Silverpelt, she thanked him every night for his choice in her future mate.

It wasn't until they became warriors- him Shadowstep an her Crescentsun- that things changed.

Shadowstep grew colder in some ways, and softer in others. His tail wrapped around her as they fell asleep in the nest they shared, and he always made room for her to lean on his shoulder when she desired, but their constant battles of wit came to a slow end. Crescentsun didn't mind too much, though. There were other reasons she had become mates with Shadowstep, and it _definitely_ wasn't for his brains.

" _I want kits,"_ he demanded of her one night.

" _Now?"_ she had teased. " _You won't be getting anything now."_

That was when she discovered that 'no' wasn't something that Shadowstep quite understood. She hated her time in the nursery, but the birth of Lilykit, Mistkit, and Waterkit brought back the kind-natured tom as he fawned over the kits that Crescentsun had to slowly learn to love.

The kits were a mix of her and their father. Lilykit was a calico, with a strict and commanding figure that easily whipped her kits into shape when she wasn't available to. She wouldn't stand for anything less than her littermates, or the other kits in the nursery. Despite her harsh nature, she would sit and listen to her littermates complain about the other for hours and would give advice in return. Occasionally, cats would joke that she made a better mother than Crescentsun.

Mistkit was covered in white fur, aside from her black paws and ears. She was constantly tired, but not lazy. Most days she would find herself indifferent to the goings-on around her, but she could get angry, happy, or sad when pushed hard enough. Just like any other cat, she had her spikes of energy where she proved herself to be surprisingly strong and an attentive learner.

Waterkit was mostly white, with speckles of wispy gray fur on his back and flanks. He was soft-spoken and weak-willed, willing to bend to the orders of every cat around him. He was also overly anxious, but easily reassured, with a deep-rooted worry for every member of his family that couldn't be quelled no matter how much Crescentsun tried.

And, like her father had predicted oh so long ago, all three had the same ice blue eyes as their mother.

It was one night, a moon before the kits' apprentice ceremony and while they were sleeping, she turned her head to look at her mate.

" _Promise to never do that again,"_ she demanded.

" _Of course not,"_ Shadowstep purred, slowly twining their tails. " _This is love, after all."_

They watched their kits become 'paws together, and watched as they gained warriors with their own particular skill set as mentors.

It was when she missed a catch that things changed again- a trodden on paw here, a too hard "affectionate" cuff round the ear there. Every time, he promised to be more careful, but Crescentsun was starting to learn that there was a pattern to his promises. But she didn't leave him. She didn't know why she didn't, but she didn't.

It was a concerned medicine cat apprentice that made her break and tell him everything. She told the tom named Windpaw about everything that Shadowstep had done that the regular MorningClan warrior would scoff at and call her a liar. Windpaw was found dead a few days later, and Shadowstep smiled at her when confronted.

" _If I was sorry about what I had done,"_ he said it as if they were teasing each other, " _Would I have ever stooped so low?"_ His words were accented by a swift blow across her muzzle with sheathed claws. " _I only do this because of how much I love you, Crescentsun."_

She sat with him during her kits' warrior ceremonies, where they became Lilywater, Mistfeather, and Waterrush.

" _I want another litter,"_ Shadowstep told her. She didn't bother saying no.

The next litter only consisted of two kits- again, while Shadowstep instantly fell for them, Crescentsun had to learn to care for them.

Skykit was a tabby, like her, with white and pale gray stripes. She was quiet, and had an even harder time opening up to others than she did. Although she was able to mask her emotions well, her eyes betrayed her natural mask and showed everything she was feeling to the world. It took her a long time to speak to cats casually, and even longer for her to consider others a friend.

Runningkit was a lithe, black tom. Secretly, Crescentsun was more fond of him from the start that she was of all of her other kits due to how he took after her rather than his father. He was a well-liked personality, thinking before he acted and kind to every cat in the Clan. He was adamant on having to prove himself to MorningClan, no matter how much Crescentsun reassured him that he would be a strong warrior someday.

Again, they both had her ice blue eyes.

She distanced herself from Shadowstep after they became Skypaw and Runningpaw, eventually becoming close to a tom named Sharpclaw. He was a pure brown tom, and even larger than her father had been. He was also kinder than Shadowstep, and funnier as well.

Halfway through her second litter's apprenticeship, he was found dead not far away from where Windpaw's body had been. Shadowstep came to her while she was hunting, blood on his paws and covering his muzzle and chest.

" _It's pathetic, I know,"_ he had purred, pressing himself against her while she was frozen. " _I'm just a jealous fool who can't let go of you, my beautiful Crescentsun."_ He looked down into the eyes that had made her become his mate in the first place. " _I've got no other reason to live besides being with you, and there's nothing else for me to give to you but my love. Have I proven myself, yet? Have I proven that I won't let you go?"_

Numbly, she had nodded.

The tabby suffered in silence from then on. Shadowstep hardly left her side, no matter how much she had wanted him to. She thought back to the apprentice that had encouraged her, and wondered where he had gone to, but then he would shove her too hard to hit her around the ear or muzzle and she would remember that the young Shadowpaw had been Shadowstep's first victim.

" _You haven't tried to leave me,"_ he would argue with her. " _You must enjoy it."_

" _Don't you have any pride?"_ Crescentsun hissed at him. " _You never would have done this before."_

Shadowstep had laughed. " _Oh, no, not anymore,"_ he told her. " _My shame is gone now, too. There are only skeletons to hide."_

It was after a long life of abuse and torment that Crescentsun had finally decided she had had enough.

Shadowstep was killed not far from where Windpaw and Sharpclaw were killed. The tabby had stood over him as he died, her claws stained with his blood, and he smiled up at her.

" _You should have killed me sooner,"_ he mewed, voice weak.

" _You're right,"_ Crescentsun agreed. " _I should have killed you before Lilywater, Mistfeather, and Waterrush were born."_

Waterrush had gone on to have two litters with a rogue that had joined the Clan named Little. Lilywater had only one kit with an unnamed tom- having long-since become an elder by then, Crescentsun personally helped raise the young Mottlekit.

Mottlekit was a pretty kit with the makings of a beautiful warrior. Just like all of her own kits and all of her son's kits, she shared the same ice blue eyes as the rest of her kin. Her pelt was covered in patches of ginger, white, cream, dark brown, and pale brown. Her face was split evenly through the middle, one half being black and the other ginger and white. She was loud and annoying- something that drove most away but made Crescentsun fond of her. She was brash and constantly angry, but despite her faults she had the makings of an extremely loyal MorningClan warrior.

" _Can you tell me about Shadowstep?"_ Mottlekit asked her one day.

" _No,"_ Crescentsun told her.

" _Oh, come on,"_ Mottlekit pressed. " _Please?"_

It wasn't until she became Mottlesplash that Crescentsun finally listened to the plea.

" _Shadowstep thought it was love,"_ she told her, her voice hoarse from age. " _He was wrong."_

" _What do you mean?"_ Mottlesplash asked, eager to hear the tale.

For a few heartbeats, the old tabby was silent, before she looked closely and carefully at her granddaughter.

" _I should have killed him sooner."_

It was obvious that Mottlesplash believed her, but instead of shock or anything else, the young warrior laughed. A full bodied, honest an genuine laugh- as if she was thinking _oh, of course she was joking._ Slowly, Crescentsun joined in.

 **Song- This is Love by Air Traffic Controller.**


End file.
